County of Brant

Erected by the provincial and federal governments, historic plaques and monuments in Brant County indicate a long and varied history which include many aspects related to the First Nations.

The Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanega) and the Mohawk people of New York state served with the British during the American Revolution. In 1784, the Crown granted Joseph Brant and his followers a land treaty along the Grand River to replace what they had lost in New York State at the Sandusky Council after the Revolution. Much of this grant was later rescinded.[13] As chief of the united tribes, Brant led his people—including Brant's African slaves captured during the revolution[14]—to Upper Canada; a group of 400 settled in 1788 on the Grand River at Mohawk Village which later became Brantford.[15] Nearly a century later (1886), the Joseph Brant Memorial would be erected in Burlington, Ontario in honour of Brant and the Six Nations Confederacy.[16]

The Mohawk Chapel, built by the British Crown in 1785 for the Mohawk and Iroquois people (Six Nations of the Grand River), was dedicated in 1788 as a reminder of the original agreements made with the British during the American Revolution.[15] In 1904 the chapel received Royal status by King Edward VII in memory of the longstanding alliance. Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks is an important reminder of the original agreements made with Queen Anne in 1710. It is still in use today as one of two royal Chapels in Canada and the oldest Protestant Church in the province. Joseph Brant and his son John Brant are buried here.[17]

Significant to the County, gypsum was discovered in 1793 on the east bank of the Grand River in what became Paris during a survey for the British Home Department. By late 1794 a road had been built from what is now Dundas, Ontario to Paris, called The Governor's Road (now Dundas St. in Paris). Records from 1846 indicate that the settlement (now Paris), in a hilly area called Oak Plains, was divided into the upper town and the lower town. In addition to successful farmers in the area, the community of 1000 people (Americans, Scottish, English, and Irish) was thriving. Manufacturing had already begun, with industries powered by the river. A great deal of plaster was being exported and there were three mills, a tannery, a woolen factory, a foundry, and numerous tradesmen. Five churches had been built; the post office was receiving mail three times a week.[18] The village was incorporated in 1850 with Hiram "Boss" Capron as the first Reeve. It was incorporated as a town in 1856 with H. Finlayson as the first mayor.[15]

Abraham Dayton from Connecticut arrived in 1793 and was granted the entire township of Burford; additional settlers began arriving in 1797. The 1814 Battle of Malcolm's Mills during the War of 1812 took place at what is now Oakland when American forces attacked the local regiments. Neither this battle nor the 1837 Duncombe's Uprising by militant "Patriots" at the settlement of Scotland were successful.[15]

Chief John Brant (Mohawk leader) (Ahyonwaeghs) who had lived at Mohawk Village was one of the sons of Joseph Brant.[19] He fought with the British during the War of 1812 and later worked to improve the welfare of the First Nations. He was involved in building schools and was the improving the welfare of his people. Brant initiated the opening of schools and from 1828 served as the first native Superintendent of the Six Nations.[15] Chief Brant was elected to Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Haldimand in 1830 and was the first aboriginal Canadian in Parliament.[20]

Records from 1846 indicate that the settlement of Scotland in Burford Township had a population of about 150. At that time there were two stores, two taverns, one tannery, one saddler, one chair maker, one cabinet maker, one blacksmith. There was also a carding machine and fulling mill near the village. Nearby Oakland had about 160 inhabitants; its post office was receiving mail daily. Oakland had a grist and a saw mill, a carding machine and fulling mill, one store, two taverns, one hatter, one wagon maker, one blacksmith, one tailor, one shoemaker.[21]

Much of the County's early population began arriving in the 1820s as the Hamilton and London Road was improved and settlement increased after 1848 when navigation to Brantford was opened and again in 1854 with the arrival of the railway to Brantford. The stone and brick Brant County Courthouse was built on land purchased from the Six Nations in 1852. The structure housed court rooms, county offices, a law library and a gaol. During additions in the 1880s, the Greek Revival style, with Doric columns, was retained.[15]

Chiefswood, now a Six Nations museum in Oshweken and one of the National Historic Sites of Canada, was built in about 1856 by Mohawk Chief George Henry Martin Johnson (Onwanonsyshon). His daughter, the Mohawk poet E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake), gained great acclaim across Canada. Her work increased awareness of the history and cultural diversity of the First Nations. In 1886, the Joseph Brant Memorial was constructed in honour of Brant and the Six Nations Confederacy.[15][22]

Brant County saw relatively early railway development in Ontario's history, as it lay nearby and between major mid-19th century centres such as Toronto and London. Plans for railway development were underway in the 1830s as part of the proposed London and Gore Railroad between London and Hamilton, with a branch line planned to extend northward to Galt.[23]^: 4 After significant delays, the London and Gore eventually appeared in the form of the Great Western Railway, whose mainline opened between Hamilton and London in 1853.[23]^: 4

Work had begun on the branch line to Galt in 1852, and it was completed in 1854.[23]^: 5 The branch line, as built, connected to the roughly east–west mainline at a junction in Brant County located at a key point aligned between four major manufacturing and administrative centres in the area: Brantford, Galt, Hamilton, and London.[23]^: 3 Originally known simply as Fairchild Creek Station, the railway town which grew up around the junction was eventually named Harrisburg after the then-president of the Great Western Railway, Robert W. Harris.[23]^: 5 This early construction date has led to some Ontario rail history writers such as Joachim Brouwer and Ron Brown to argue that Harrisburg was the first railway junction in Canada, and that the branch line to Galt was the first branch line in Canadian railway history.[23]^: 5 A second branch line, this one to Brantford, was also built south from Harrisburg in 1871, though an independent shortline named the Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich Railway reached Brantford earlier, in the 1850s.[23]^: 6

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone at his father's homestead, Melville House, now the Bell Homestead National Historic Site. At the time, the homestead was in the County, outside the Brantford city limits.[24][25][26] In a 1906 speech, Bell made the following comment, "the telephone problem was solved, and it was solved at my father's home".[27] As well, two of the first successful voice transmissions of any notable distance were made in early August 1876, between the telegraph office in Brantford, Ontario and Melville House and Between Paris and Brantford.[28][29][30][31]

Canada's first telephone factory, created and operated by James Cowherd, was also located in Brantford from about 1879 until his death in 1881.[32][33] The first telephone business office which opened in 1877, not far from the Bell Homestead, was then located in the County just outside Brantford.[15]

Brant County Courthouse

In addition to Brantford, population centres in Brant are Paris, St. George and Burford. Smaller communities in the municipality include Bishopsgate, Burtch, Cainsville, Cathcart, East Oakland, Etonia, Fairfield, Falkland, Glen Morris, Gobles, Harley, Harrisburg, Hatchley, Langford, Lockie, Maple Grove, Middleport, Mount Pleasant, Mount Vernon, New Durham, Newport, Northfield, Northfield Centre, Oakland, Onondaga, Osborne Corners, and Scotland.